Long running workflows for document processing using robotic process automation

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for executing a robotic process automation (RPA) workflow for document processing are provided. An input document is processed by a first robot executing one or more document processing activities of the RPA workflow. The document processing activities may include optical character recognition, digitization, classification, or data extraction. Execution of the RPA workflow is suspended by the first robot in response to a user validation activity of the RPA workflow. The user validation activity provides for user validation of the results of the one or more document processing activities. A user request that requests validation of the results from an end user is generated and the user request is transmitted to the end user. The execution of the RPA workflow is resumed by a second robot based on the validation received from the end user.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. utility patent applicationSer. No. 16/654,653, filed Oct. 16, 2019, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to robotic process automation,and more particularly to long running workflows for document processingusing robotic process automation.

BACKGROUND

Robotic process automation (RPA) is a form of process automation thatuses software robots to automate workflows. RPA may be implemented toautomate repetitive and/or labor-intensive tasks, thereby reducing costsand increasing efficiency. One exemplary application of RPA is documentprocessing. Document processing refers to operations performed on adocument in order to structure some or all of the information in thedocument.

Often times, document processing results in errors due to the opticalcharacter recognition process or other document processing methods.Accordingly, results of document processing are typically manuallyvalidated by a user. Conventionally, incorporation of such manualvalidation into an RPA workflow by an RPA developer is a labor intensiveprocess. In particular, the incorporation of manual validation into anRPA workflow conventionally involves the RPA developer synchronizingmultiple distinct workflows, such as a document processing workflow, auser validation workflow, and a post-processing workflow, or the RPAdeveloper generating one large complex workflow that requires a userperforming the validation to wait for the document processing workflowand the post-processing workflow. It is therefore difficult toincorporate manual validation in an RPA workflow.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one or more embodiments, systems and methods forexecuting a robotic process automation (RPA) workflow for documentprocessing are provided. An input document is processed by a first robotexecuting one or more document processing activities of the RPAworkflow. The document processing activities may include opticalcharacter recognition, digitization, classification, or data extraction.Execution of the RPA workflow is suspended by the first robot inresponse to a user validation activity of the RPA workflow. The uservalidation activity provides for user validation of the results of theone or more document processing activities. A user request that requestsvalidation of the results from an end user is generated and the userrequest is transmitted to the end user. A notification indicating thatvalidation of the results is requested may also be transmitted to theend user. The execution of the RPA workflow is resumed by a second robotbased on the validation received from the end user. The first robot andthe second robot may be the same robot or different robots.

In one embodiment, the validation of the results received from the enduser may be an indication of whether the results are accurate, orcorrected results of the one or more document processing activities.

In one embodiment, a user interface is caused to be displayed depictingthe input document and the results for presentation to the end user. Theinput data and the results of the one or more document processingactivities may be displayed in a side-by-side configuration. A selectionof a particular result may be received from the end user and theparticular result and corresponding original data in the input documentmay be caused to be highlighted.

These and other advantages of the invention will be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art by reference to the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an architectural diagram illustrating a robotic processautomation system, according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an architectural diagram illustrating an example of a deployedrobotic process automation system, according to an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is an architectural diagram illustrating a simplified deploymentexample of a robotic process automation system, according to anembodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary long running workflow for extracting data froman input document, according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows a method for executing a long running robotic processingautomation workflow for document processing, according to an embodimentof the invention;

FIG. 6 shows an exemplary user interface for validating a dataextraction document processing activity of a long running workflow,according to an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a computing system according to anembodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Robotic process automation (RPA) is used for automating workflows. FIG.1 is an architectural diagram of an RPA system 100, in accordance withone or more embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1, RPA system 100 includes adesigner 102 to allow a developer to design automation processes usingworkflows. More specifically, designer 102 facilitates the developmentand deployment of workflows and robots for performing activities in theworkflows. Designer 102 may provide a solution for applicationintegration, as well as automating third-party applications,administrative Information Technology (IT) tasks, and business processesfor contact center operations. One commercial example of an embodimentof designer 102 is UiPath Studio™.

In designing the automation of rule-based processes, the developercontrols the execution order and the relationship between a custom setof steps developed in a workflow, defined herein as “activities.” Eachactivity may include an action, such as clicking a button, reading afile, writing to a log panel, etc. In some embodiments, workflows may benested or embedded.

Some types of workflows may include, but are not limited to, sequences,flowcharts, Finite State Machines (FSMs), and/or global exceptionhandlers. Sequences may be particularly suitable for linear processes,enabling flow from one activity to another without cluttering aworkflow. Flowcharts may be particularly suitable to more complexbusiness logic, enabling integration of decisions and connection ofactivities in a more diverse manner through multiple branching logicoperators. FSMs may be particularly suitable for large workflows. FSMsmay use a finite number of states in their execution, which aretriggered by a condition (i.e., transition) or an activity. Globalexception handlers may be particularly suitable for determining workflowbehavior when encountering an execution error and for debuggingprocesses.

Once a workflow is developed in designer 102, execution of businessprocesses is orchestrated by a conductor 104, which orchestrates one ormore robots 106 that execute the workflows developed in designer 102.One commercial example of an embodiment of conductor 104 is UiPathOrchestrator™. Conductor 220 facilitates management of the creation,monitoring, and deployment of resources in an RPA environment. In oneexample, conductor 104 is a web application. Conductor 104 may alsofunction as an integration point with third-party solutions andapplications.

Conductor 104 may manage a fleet of robots 106 by connecting andexecuting robots 106 from a centralized point. Conductor 104 may havevarious capabilities including, but not limited to, provisioning,deployment, configuration, queueing, monitoring, logging, and/orproviding interconnectivity. Provisioning may include creation andmaintenance of connections between robots 106 and conductor 104 (e.g., aweb application). Deployment may include assuring the correct deliveryof package versions to assigned robots 106 for execution. Configurationmay include maintenance and delivery of robot environments and processconfigurations. Queueing may include providing management of queues andqueue items. Monitoring may include keeping track of robotidentification data and maintaining user permissions. Logging mayinclude storing and indexing logs to a database (e.g., an SQL database)and/or another storage mechanism (e.g., ElasticSearch®, which providesthe ability to store and quickly query large datasets). Conductor 104may provide interconnectivity by acting as the centralized point ofcommunication for third-party solutions and/or applications.

Robots 106 are execution agents that run workflows built in designer102. One commercial example of some embodiments of robots 106 is UiPathRobots™. Types of robots 106 may include, but are not limited to,attended robots 108 and unattended robots 110. Attended robots 108 aretriggered by a user or user events and operate alongside a human user onthe same computing system. Attended robots 108 may help the human useraccomplish various tasks, and may be triggered directly by the humanuser and/or by user events. In the case of attended robots, conductor104 may provide centralized process deployment and a logging medium. Incertain embodiments, attended robots 108 can only be started from a“robot tray” or from a command prompt in a web application. Unattendedrobots 110 operate in an unattended mode in virtual environments and canbe used for automating many processes, e.g., for high-volume, back-endprocesses and so on. Unattended robots 110 may be responsible for remoteexecution, monitoring, scheduling, and providing support for workqueues. Both attended and unattended robots may automate various systemsand applications including, but not limited to, mainframes, webapplications, VMs, enterprise applications (e.g., those produced bySAP®, SalesForce®, Oracle®, etc.), and computing system applications(e.g., desktop and laptop applications, mobile device applications,wearable computer applications, etc.).

In some embodiments, robots 106 install the Microsoft Windows® ServiceControl Manager (SCM)-managed service by default. As a result, suchrobots 106 can open interactive Windows® sessions under the local systemaccount, and have the rights of a Windows® service. In some embodiments,robots 106 can be installed in a user mode with the same rights as theuser under which a given robot 106 has been installed.

Robots 106 in some embodiments are split into several components, eachbeing dedicated to a particular task. Robot components in someembodiments include, but are not limited to, SCM-managed robot services,user mode robot services, executors, agents, and command line.SCM-managed robot services manage and monitor Windows® sessions and actas a proxy between conductor 104 and the execution hosts (i.e., thecomputing systems on which robots 106 are executed). These services aretrusted with and manage the credentials for robots 106. A consoleapplication is launched by the SCM under the local system. User moderobot services in some embodiments manage and monitor Windows® sessionsand act as a proxy between conductor 104 and the execution hosts. Usermode robot services may be trusted with and manage the credentials forrobots 106. A Windows® application may automatically be launched if theSCM-managed robot service is not installed. Executors may run given jobsunder a Windows® session (e.g., they may execute workflows) and they maybe aware of per-monitor dots per inch (DPI) settings. Agents may beWindows® Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications that display theavailable jobs in the system tray window. Agents may be a client of theservice. Agents may request to start or stop jobs and change settings.Command line is a client of the service and is a console applicationthat can request to start jobs and waits for their output. Splittingrobot components can help developers, support users, and enablecomputing systems to more easily run, identify, and track what eachrobot component is executing. For example, special behaviors may beconfigured per robot component, such as setting up different firewallrules for the executor and the service. As a further example, anexecutor may be aware of DPI settings per monitor in some embodimentsand, as a result, workflows may be executed at any DPI regardless of theconfiguration of the computing system on which they were created.

FIG. 2 shows an RPA system 200, in accordance with one or moreembodiments. RPA system 200 may be, or may be part of, RPA system 100 ofFIG. 1. It should be noted that the “client side”, the “server side”, orboth, may include any desired number of computing systems withoutdeviating from the scope of the invention.

As shown on the client side in this embodiment, computing system 202includes one or more executors 204, agent 206, and designer 208. Inother embodiments, designer 208 may not be running on the same computingsystem 202. An executor 204 (which may be a robot component as describedabove) runs a process and, in some embodiments, multiple businessprocesses may run simultaneously. In this example, agent 206 (e.g., aWindows® service) is the single point of contact for managing executors204.

In some embodiments, a robot represents an association between a machinename and a username. A robot may manage multiple executors at the sametime. On computing systems that support multiple interactive sessionsrunning simultaneously (e.g., Windows® Server 2012), multiple robots maybe running at the same time (e.g., a high density (HD) environment),each in a separate Windows® session using a unique username.

Agent 206 is also responsible for sending the status of the robot (e.g.,periodically sending a “heartbeat” message indicating that the robot isstill functioning) and downloading the required version of the packageto be executed. The communication between agent 206 and conductor 212 isinitiated by agent 206 in some embodiments. In the example of anotification scenario, agent 206 may open a WebSocket channel that islater used by conductor 212 to send commands to the robot (e.g., start,stop, etc.).

As shown on the server side in this embodiment, a presentation layercomprises web application 214, Open Data Protocol (OData) RepresentativeState Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface (API) endpoints216 and notification and monitoring API 218. A service layer on theserver side includes API implementation/business logic 220. Apersistence layer on the server side includes database server 222 andindexer server 224. Conductor 212 includes web application 214, ODataREST API endpoints 216, notification and monitoring API 218, and APIimplementation/business logic 220.

In various embodiments, most actions that a user performs in theinterface of conductor 212 (e.g., via browser 210) are performed bycalling various APIs. Such actions may include, but are not limited to,starting jobs on robots, adding/removing data in queues, scheduling jobsto run unattended, and so on. Web application 214 is the visual layer ofthe server platform. In this embodiment, web application 214 usesHypertext Markup Language (HTML) and JavaScript (JS). However, anydesired markup languages, script languages, or any other formats may beused without deviating from the scope of the invention. The userinteracts with web pages from web application 214 via browser 210 inthis embodiment in order to perform various actions to control conductor212. For instance, the user may create robot groups, assign packages tothe robots, analyze logs per robot and/or per process, start and stoprobots, etc.

In addition to web application 214, conductor 212 also includes aservice layer that exposes OData REST API endpoints 216 (or otherendpoints may be implemented without deviating from the scope of theinvention). The REST API is consumed by both web application 214 andagent 206. Agent 206 is the supervisor of one or more robots on theclient computer in this exemplary configuration.

The REST API in this embodiment covers configuration, logging,monitoring, and queueing functionality. The configuration REST endpointsmay be used to define and configure application users, permissions,robots, assets, releases, and environments in some embodiments. LoggingREST endpoints may be useful for logging different information, such aserrors, explicit messages sent by the robots, and otherenvironment-specific information, for example. Deployment REST endpointsmay be used by the robots to query the package version that should beexecuted if the start job command is used in conductor 212. QueueingREST endpoints may be responsible for queues and queue item management,such as adding data to a queue, obtaining a transaction from the queue,setting the status of a transaction, etc. Monitoring REST endpointsmonitor web application 214 and agent 206. Notification and monitoringAPI 218 may be REST endpoints that are used for registering agent 206,delivering configuration settings to agent 206, and forsending/receiving notifications from the server and agent 206.Notification and monitoring API 218 may also use WebSocket communicationin some embodiments.

The persistence layer on the server side includes a pair of servers inthis illustrative embodiment—database server 222 (e.g., a SQL server)and indexer server 224. Database server 222 in this embodiment storesthe configurations of the robots, robot groups, associated processes,users, roles, schedules, etc. This information is managed through webapplication 214 in some embodiments. Database server 222 may also managequeues and queue items. In some embodiments, database server 222 maystore messages logged by the robots (in addition to or in lieu ofindexer server 224). Indexer server 224, which is optional in someembodiments, stores and indexes the information logged by the robots. Incertain embodiments, indexer server 224 may be disabled throughconfiguration settings. In some embodiments, indexer server 224 usesElasticSearch®, which is an open source project full-text search engine.Messages logged by robots (e.g., using activities like log message orwrite line) may be sent through the logging REST endpoint(s) to indexerserver 224, where they are indexed for future utilization.

FIG. 3 is an architectural diagram illustrating a simplified deploymentexample of RPA system 300, in accordance with one or more embodiments.In some embodiments, RPA system 300 may be, or may include RPA systems100 and/or 200 of FIGS. 1 and 2, respective. RPA system 300 includesmultiple client computing systems 302 running robots. Computing systems302 are able to communicate with a conductor computing system 304 via aweb application running thereon. Conductor computing system 304, inturn, communicates with database server 306 and an optional indexerserver 308. With respect to FIGS. 2 and 3, it should be noted that whilea web application is used in these embodiments, any suitableclient/server software may be used without deviating from the scope ofthe invention. For instance, the conductor may run a server-sideapplication that communicates with non-web-based client softwareapplications on the client computing systems.

In one embodiment, RPA system 300 may be implemented to execute longrunning workflows. As used herein, long running workflows are workflowsthat include one or more activities that depend on an occurrence of anexternal event in order to complete the activity. An external event of aparticular long running workflow is any event that does not result fromexecution of the particular long running workflow. Long runningworkflows are performed over a relatively long period of time (e.g.,hours or days) and may be suspended and resumed at any point in time towait for the occurrence of the external event, thereby providing longrunning behavior to the workflow. In contrast, activities of non-longrunning workflows are executed in a continuous manner without waitingfor external events.

In accordance with one particularly advantageous embodiment, RPA system300 may be implemented to execute long running workflows for documentprocessing. Document processing refers to operations performed on adocument in order to structure some or all of the information in thedocument. Exemplary document processing operations include digitization,classification, and data extraction. In order to address potentialerrors resulting from the automated document processing, long runningworkflows may include a user validation activity to allow a user tovalidate the results of the document processing.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary long running workflow 400 for extracting datafrom an input document, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Longrunning workflow 400 comprises robot activities 402, 404, and 408 and auser activity 406. Robot activity 402 defines a robot performing opticalcharacter recognition (OCR) on a document. Robot activity 404 defines arobot extracting data from the OCR results. User activity 406 defines auser validating the extracted data. Robot activity 408 defines a robotupdating the system with the validated extracted data.

In long running workflow 400, user activity 406 depends on theoccurrence of the external event of a user validating results of thedata extraction. Execution of long running workflow 400 may be suspendedwhile waiting for user input validating the data processing results andmay be resumed once the user input has been received. The robotexecuting long running workflow 400 may be assigned to execute anotherworkflow when execution of long running workflow 400 is suspended,thereby optimizing resources. Execution of long running workflow 400 maybe resumed at activity 408 upon completion of activity 406 with the sameor a different robot.

Long running workflows, such as, e.g., long running workflow 400 of FIG.4, may be created by a user (e.g., an RPA developer) using, e.g.,designer 102 of FIG. 1 or designer 208 of FIG. 2. For example, the usermay interact with designer 102 or designer 208 to stitch togethermultiple fragmented activities (including fragmented shorter runningworkflows) to create a long running workflow. In one embodiment, theuser creates the long running workflow by creating a new project (e.g.,in designer 102 of FIG. 1 or designer 208 of FIG. 2) and selecting(e.g., dragging and dropping from a set of available activities and/orworkflows) activities.

FIG. 5 shows a method 500 for executing a long running RPA workflow fordocument processing, in accordance with one or more embodiments. Thesteps of method 500 may be performed by one or more robots (e.g.,attended robot 108 or unattended robot 110 of FIG. 1 or robots 302 ofFIG. 3) running on a computing device (e.g., computing system 700 ofFIG. 7). Method 500 will be described with reference to long runningworkflow 400 of FIG. 4.

At step 502, one or more document processing activities of the longrunning workflow are executed by a first robot to process an inputdocument. The first robot may be any suitable robot for executing RPAworkflows. In one embodiment, the first robot is an unattended robot.The document processing activities may be any robot activity forprocessing documents that are serializable, such as, e.g., OCR,digitization, classification, and data extraction. In one example, thedocument processing activities are robot activity 402 for OCR and robotactivity 404 for data extraction in long running workflow 400. Theactivities may be invoked in an asynchronous non-blocking manner. In oneembodiment, the activities include non-UI activities that may be invokedin a synchronous blocking manner or in an asynchronous blocking manner.Non-UI activities may include, for example, calls to external systems(e.g., an API call to an SAP (Systems Applications and Products) systemto retrieve data). The calls may be executed in an asynchronous manner,meaning that the call to the API is performed and the handling of thereturned data is defined at the same time, and the thread proceeds withother logic. A synchronous call, on the other hand, executes the call,waits and blocks the thread until the data is received, and thenproceeds with the data handling.

At step 504, execution of the long running workflow is suspended by thefirst robot in response to a user validation activity of the longrunning workflow. The user validation activity is for validating resultsof the one or more document processing activities. In one example, theuser validation activity is user activity 406 for validating extracteddata in long running workflow 400. The long running workflow issuspended for an indefinite period of time to wait for user input in theform of validation of the results of the one or more document processingactivities from the end user.

To suspend the execution of the long running workflow, the currentcontext of the long running workflow at the time of suspension isserialized. Serialization of the current context of the long runningworkflow refers to the process of translating the current state of thelong running workflow (data variables and their valies) into a formatthat can be stored and later reconstructed. The current context of thelong running workflow is stored in a central persistent storage, suchas, e.g., database server 222 of FIG. 2 or database server 306 of FIG.3.

At step 506, a user request requesting validation of the results fromthe end user is generated. The user request may include the inputdocument, a digitized version of the input document, classificationinformation associated with the input document, and results of the oneor more document processing activities. In one embodiment, the userrequest may include a user interface enabling the end user to validatethe results of the one or more document processing activities. The userinterface allows for the presentation of information of the user requestso as to best assist the user in completing the validation. The userinterface may be configured according to the business use case needs. Anexemplary user interface is shown in FIG. 6, described in further detailbelow.

At step 508, the user request is transmitted to the end user. The userrequest notifies the end user that user input is required for validatingthe results of the one or more document processing activities. Inresponse to the user request, the end user may interact with the userrequest to validate the results of the one or more document processingactivities by selecting the document processing results, comparing thedocument processing results with the input document, and correcting thedocument processing results.

In one embodiment, a notification indicating that validation of theresults of the one or more document processing activities is requestedis also transmitted to the end user. The notification may include alink, or otherwise direct the end user to, the user interface to enablethe end user to validate the results. The notification may be a mobiledevice notification, text message, email, etc.

At step 510, the execution of the long running workflow is resumed bythe second robot based on the validation received from the end user. Forexample, the execution of long running workflow 400 may be resumed byexecuting robot activity 408 for updating the system based on user inputreceived for user activity 406 validating results of the dataextraction. The validation of the results of the one or more documentprocessing activities received from the end user may comprise anindication that the results of the one or more document processing areor are not accurate and/or a corrected results of the one or moredocument processing activities.

The second robot may be any suitable robot for executing RPA workflows(e.g., an unattended robot). The first robot and the second robot may bethe same robot or different robots. In one embodiment, the second robotis a first available robot in a pool of available robots associated withthe long running workflow.

In one embodiment, execution of the long running workflow is resumed byretrieving the current context of the long running workflow from thecentral persistent storage (e.g., database server 222 of FIG. 2 ordatabase server 306 of FIG. 3). Accordingly, even if the long runningworkflow was later updated or modified (e.g., after suspension of theexecution of the long running workflow), execution of the long runningworkflow is resumed using the workflow state (data variables and theirvalues) at the time of suspension, which was stored in the centralpersistent storage.

The long running workflow may be suspended any number of instances.Accordingly, method 500 may iterate by returning to step 504 each timethe resumed long running workflow is suspended in response to a uservalidation activity until execution of the long running workflow iscomplete.

While the steps of method 500 may be performed by one or more robots,coordination of those steps are managed by an orchestrator, such as,e.g., conductor 104 of FIG. 1, conductor 212 of FIG. 2, or conductor 304of FIG. 3. Specifically, with respect to method 500, the orchestratortransmits an indication to execute the one or more document processingactivities to the first robot to perform step 502, transmits anindication to suspend the execution of the long running workflow to thefirst robot to perform step 504, receives the generated user request(generated at step 506) from the first robot and transmits the generateduser request to the end user to perform step 508, receives validation ofthe results of the one or more document processing activities from theend user in response to the user request, and transmits an indication toresume the execution of the long running workflow to the second robot toperform step 510. Accordingly, the long running workflow is coordinatedin a centralized manner by the orchestrator but may be executed in adecentralized manner by different robots.

Advantageously, the suspending and resuming of long running workflowsallows for optimal resource allocation for performing the long runningworkflows without the need for continuous monitoring or waiting by arobot.

FIG. 6 shows a user interface 600 for validating a data extractiondocument processing activity of a long running workflow performed on aninput document, in accordance with one or more embodiments. A similaruser interface may be provided for other document processing activities(e.g., OCR, digitization, classification, etc.). User interface 600 maybe presented to an end user in response to the end user interacting witha user request requesting validation of the results of the dataextraction. In one embodiment, the user request may have beentransmitted to the end user at step 508 of method 500 of FIG. 5.

User interface includes view 602 showing results of the data extractionand view 604 showing the input document that the one or more documentprocessing activities are applied to. In one embodiment, views 602 and604 are shown in user interface 600 in a side-by-side configuration tofacilitate validation of the results of the one or more documentprocessing activities by the end user. As shown in FIG. 6, views 602 and604 are in a left and right side-by-side configuration, however otherconfigurations are possible (e.g., top and bottom, etc.).

View 602 depicts extracted document type data 606-A, extracted invoicenumber data 606-B, extracted invoice date data 606-C, extracted companyname data 606-D, and extracted total amount data 606-E (collectivelyreferred to as extracted data 606) extracted from respectivecorresponding original data 608-A-608-E (collectively referred to asoriginal data 608) of the input document, depicted in view 604. Userinterface 600 is configured to show extracted data 606 in view 602alongside original data 608 in view 604, which enables the end user tovalidate the automatically determined extracted data 606.

The end user may interact with views 602 and/or 604 to facilitate thevalidation of extracted data 606. In one embodiment, the end user mayselect extracted data 606 in view 602 to highlight the extracted data606 in view 602 and its corresponding original data 608 in view 604 (orsimilarly, the user may select original data 608 in view 604 tohighlight the original data 608 and its corresponding extracted data606). For example, as shown in FIG. 6, extracted invoice number data606-B is selected by an end user to highlight extracted invoice numberdata 606-B and its corresponding original data 608-B. As shown in FIG.6, extracted invoice number data 606-B is extracted as an invoice numberin view 602, but is extracted from original data 608-B as the tax ID inview 604. Accordingly, extracted invoice number data 606-B and itscorresponding original data 608-B is an example of an erroneous dataextraction that a user may correct using user interface 600. In oneembodiment, a user may select a word or a sequence of words from theinput document in view 604 as original data 608 and assign the selectionas a value for a field as extracted data 606 in view 604, thus adding orchanging data to the extracted data 606. While extracted invoice numberdata 606-B and its corresponding original data 608-B are described asbeing highlighted in FIG. 6, it should be understood that the selectedextracted data 606 and original data 608 may be depicted in userinterface 600 in any suitable manner so as to draw the attention of theend user, such as, e.g., font, font style (e.g., bold, italics), fontsize, font color, etc.).

In one embodiment, the end user may validate extracted data 606 bycomparing extracted data 606 with original data 608 and correctingextracted data 606, e.g., by deleting, adding, correcting, and/orreplacing extracted data 606 based on the comparison. In anotherembodiment, the end user may validate extracted data 606 by providing anindication of whether extracted data 606 is accurate. Once validated,the end user may submit the validated extracted data 606 and transmitthe validation to the orchestrator, to thereby resume execution of thelong running workflow.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a computing system 700 configuredto execute the methods described in reference to FIG. 4, according to anembodiment of the present invention. In some embodiments, computingsystem 700 may be one or more of the computing systems depicted and/ordescribed herein. Computing system 700 includes a bus 702 or othercommunication mechanism for communicating information, and processor(s)704 coupled to bus 702 for processing information. Processor(s) 704 maybe any type of general or specific purpose processor, including aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a GraphicsProcessing Unit (GPU), multiple instances thereof, and/or anycombination thereof. Processor(s) 704 may also have multiple processingcores, and at least some of the cores may be configured to performspecific functions. Multi-parallel processing may be used in someembodiments.

Computing system 700 further includes a memory 706 for storinginformation and instructions to be executed by processor(s) 704. Memory706 can be comprised of any combination of Random Access Memory (RAM),Read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory, cache, static storage such as amagnetic or optical disk, or any other types of non-transitorycomputer-readable media or combinations thereof. Non-transitorycomputer-readable media may be any available media that can be accessedby processor(s) 704 and may include volatile media, non-volatile media,or both. The media may also be removable, non-removable, or both.

Additionally, computing system 700 includes a communication device 708,such as a transceiver, to provide access to a communications network viaa wireless and/or wired connection according to any currently existingor future-implemented communications standard and/or protocol.

Processor(s) 704 are further coupled via bus 702 to a display 710 thatis suitable for displaying information to a user. Display 710 may alsobe configured as a touch display and/or any suitable haptic I/O device.

A keyboard 712 and a cursor control device 714, such as a computermouse, a touchpad, etc., are further coupled to bus 702 to enable a userto interface with computing system. However, in certain embodiments, aphysical keyboard and mouse may not be present, and the user mayinteract with the device solely through display 710 and/or a touchpad(not shown). Any type and combination of input devices may be used as amatter of design choice. In certain embodiments, no physical inputdevice and/or display is present. For instance, the user may interactwith computing system 700 remotely via another computing system incommunication therewith, or computing system 700 may operateautonomously.

Memory 706 stores software modules that provide functionality whenexecuted by processor(s) 704. The modules include an operating system716 for computing system 700 and one or more additional functionalmodules 718 configured to perform all or part of the processes describedherein or derivatives thereof.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that a “system” could be embodiedas a server, an embedded computing system, a personal computer, aconsole, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cell phone, a tabletcomputing device, a quantum computing system, or any other suitablecomputing device, or combination of devices without deviating from thescope of the invention. Presenting the above-described functions asbeing performed by a “system” is not intended to limit the scope of thepresent invention in any way, but is intended to provide one example ofthe many embodiments of the present invention. Indeed, methods, systems,and apparatuses disclosed herein may be implemented in localized anddistributed forms consistent with computing technology, including cloudcomputing systems.

It should be noted that some of the system features described in thisspecification have been presented as modules, in order to moreparticularly emphasize their implementation independence. For example, amodule may be implemented as a hardware circuit comprising custom verylarge scale integration (VLSI) circuits or gate arrays, off-the-shelfsemiconductors such as logic chips, transistors, or other discretecomponents. A module may also be implemented in programmable hardwaredevices such as field programmable gate arrays, programmable arraylogic, programmable logic devices, graphics processing units, or thelike. A module may also be at least partially implemented in softwarefor execution by various types of processors. An identified unit ofexecutable code may, for instance, include one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions that may, for instance, beorganized as an object, procedure, or function. Nevertheless, theexecutables of an identified module need not be physically locatedtogether, but may include disparate instructions stored in differentlocations that, when joined logically together, comprise the module andachieve the stated purpose for the module. Further, modules may bestored on a computer-readable medium, which may be, for instance, a harddisk drive, flash device, RAM, tape, and/or any other suchnon-transitory computer-readable medium used to store data withoutdeviating from the scope of the invention. Indeed, a module ofexecutable code could be a single instruction, or many instructions, andmay even be distributed over several different code segments, amongdifferent programs, and across several memory devices. Similarly,operational data may be identified and illustrated herein withinmodules, and may be embodied in any suitable form and organized withinany suitable type of data structure. The operational data may becollected as a single data set, or may be distributed over differentlocations including over different storage devices, and may exist, atleast partially, merely as electronic signals on a system or network.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. Itwill thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able todevise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described orshown herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and are includedwithin its spirit and scope. Furthermore, all examples and conditionallanguage recited herein are principally intended to be only forpedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the principlesof the disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor tofurthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitationto such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, allstatements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of thedisclosure, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended toencompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof.Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include bothcurrently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in thefuture.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method for executing arobotic process automation (RPA) workflow for document processingcomprising: executing one or more document processing activities of theRPA workflow by a first robot to process an input document; suspendingexecution of the RPA workflow by the first robot in response to a uservalidation activity of the RPA workflow by storing a current state ofthe RPA workflow at a time of the suspending in storage, the uservalidation activity for validating results of the one or more documentprocessing activities; in response to the suspending of the execution ofthe RPA workflow, assigning the first robot to execute another RPAworkflow; generating a user request requesting validation of the resultsfrom an end user; transmitting the user request to the end user; andresuming the execution of the RPA workflow by a second robot based onthe validation received from the end user by retrieving the currentstate of the RPA workflow at the time of the suspending from thestorage.
 2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thevalidation received from the end user comprises an indication of whetherthe results are accurate.
 3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,wherein the validation received from the end user comprises correctedresults of the one or more document processing activities.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: causingdisplay of a user interface depicting the input document and the resultsfor presentation to the end user.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more document processing activities compriseone or more of optical character recognition, digitization,classification, or data extraction.
 6. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising: transmitting a notification to the enduser indicating that validation of the results is requested.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first robot and thesecond robot are the same robot.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein the first robot and the second robot are differentrobots.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein theexecuting, the suspending, the generating, the transmitting, and theresuming are performed by one or more computing devices implemented in acloud computing system.
 10. A system for executing a robotic processautomation (RPA) workflow for document processing comprising: a memorystoring computer instructions; and at least one processor configured toexecute the computer instructions, the computer instructions configuredto cause the at least one processor to perform operations of: executingone or more document processing activities of the RPA workflow by afirst robot to process an input document; suspending execution of theRPA workflow by the first robot in response to a user validationactivity of the RPA workflow by storing a current state of the RPAworkflow at a time of the suspending in storage, the user validationactivity for validating results of the one or more document processingactivities; in response to the suspending of the execution of the RPAworkflow, assigning the first robot to execute another RPA workflow;generating a user request requesting validation of the results from anend user; transmitting the user request to the end user; and resumingthe execution of the RPA workflow by a second robot based on thevalidation received from the end user by retrieving the current state ofthe RPA workflow at the time of the suspending from the storage.
 11. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the validation received from the end usercomprises an indication of whether the results are accurate.
 12. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the validation received from the end usercomprises corrected results of the one or more document processingactivities.
 13. The system of claim 10, the operations furthercomprising: causing display of a user interface depicting the inputdocument and the results for presentation to the end user.
 14. Thesystem of claim 10, wherein the one or more document processingactivities comprise one or more of optical character recognition,digitization, classification, or data extraction.
 15. The system ofclaim 10, the operations further comprising: transmitting a notificationto the end user indicating that validation of the results is requested.16. The system of claim 10, wherein the first robot and the second robotare the same robot.
 17. The system of claim 10, wherein the first robotand the second robot are different robots.
 18. The system of claim 10,wherein the system is implemented in a cloud computing system.
 19. Anon-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer programinstructions for executing a robotic process automation (RPA) workflowfor document processing, the computer program instructions, whenexecution on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor toperform operations comprising: executing one or more document processingactivities of the RPA workflow by a first robot to process an inputdocument; suspending execution of the RPA workflow by the first robot inresponse to a user validation activity of the RPA workflow by storing acurrent state of the RPA workflow at a time of the suspending instorage, the user validation activity for validating results of the oneor more document processing activities; in response to the suspending ofthe execution of the RPA workflow, assigning the first robot to executeanother RPA workflow; generating a user request requesting validation ofthe results from an end user; transmitting the user request to the enduser; and resuming the execution of the RPA workflow by a second robotbased on the validation received from the end user by retrieving thecurrent state of the RPA workflow at the time of the suspending from thestorage.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,wherein the validation received from the end user comprises anindication of whether the results are accurate.
 21. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the validation receivedfrom the end user comprises corrected results of the one or moredocument processing activities.
 22. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 19, the operations further comprising: causing displayof a user interface depicting the input document and the results forpresentation to the end user.
 23. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 19, wherein the one or more document processingactivities comprise one or more of optical character recognition,digitization, classification, or data extraction.
 24. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium of claim 19, the operations further comprising:transmitting a notification to the end user indicating that validationof the results is requested.
 25. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 19, wherein the first robot and the second robot are thesame robot.
 26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,wherein the first robot and the second robot are different robots. 27.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the atleast one processor is implemented in one or more computing devices andthe one or more computing devices are implemented in a cloud computingsystem.